Bottas is entering his penultimate race with Sauber this weekend at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The squad has elected to replace both he and team-mate Zhou Guanyu for 2025 with Nico Hulkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

At 35, Bottas doesn’t feel ready to walk away from F1 yet and is in discussions with Mercedes over a reserve driver role.

Those received a boost with Mick Schumacher’s decision to leave the role in pursuit of a racing career elsewhere for 2025.

Bottas is scheduled, as is Schumacher, to compete in the Race of Champions in Sydney next March in what will be his first race post-F1.

There may be others outings too the 10-time grand prix winner confessed, though he is currently unwilling to commit to a full schedule.

“Next up is Race of Champions. That’s before Melbourne,” he explained.

“In any case, next year, I won’t be racing a full season somewhere else, but might do some one-off, one of things, depending on where I end up and how much driving or testing I will get to do.

“I’ll be driving something, but not a full season.”

That decision is deliberate as he works to keep the F1 door open.

He’s also aware of jumping ship too rapidly, realising that whatever he moves to will have its own learning curve.

“Jumping into a full IndyCar season after 12 years of F1, I just feel like it comes big too quick, you know, because it’s a lot of hard work and lot of – what’s the word familiar – familiarization to be done,” he reasoned.

“So, I try to take just a bit of time figure out what’s next and go from there.”

He is however open to one-off events, such as the Indianapolis 500, though his availability would depend on what F1 role he might land, and if there are any scheduling conflicts.

“It depends if I’m going to be around here at every grand prix or not,” he reasoned.

“But, I mean, the Indy 500 has been always on the list. I’ve been always a fan of V8 Supercars, you know, these kind of thing.

“At the moment, I’m still pretty open.

“First, I need to decide, actually, what’s the next move, and then can we see.”

That could even see a return to rallying, something he’s not been allowed to do since he left Mercedes at the end of 2021.

As previously reported, next year’s Enduro Cup includes The Bend and the Bathurst 1000 does not clash with the F1 season.

Next year’s running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place on May 25, which clashes with the Monaco Grand Prix – a point that will be avoided for 2026, perhaps in place of a clash with the Canadian GP instead.